It’s hard to think of an aircraft more iconic than the SR-71 Blackbird. Its design has captured imaginations and lingered in the mind well after it was retired. Well, meet the SR-72, the next Blackbird. It’s going into space.

Admittedly, we’re a long way away from seeing this in any way, shape, or form: Lockheed Martin admits the first demonstration won’t be until 2018 at the earliest. Still, it’s an aircraft that brings out your inner eight-year-old, especially when they obliquely mention space:

A vehicle penetrating at high altitude and Mach 6, a speed viewed by Lockheed Martin as the “sweet spot” for practical air-breathing hypersonics, is expected to survive where even stealthy, advanced subsonic or supersonic aircraft and unmanned vehicles might not. Moreover, an armed ISR platform would also have the ability to strike targets before they could hide.

Yeah, it’s a strike aircraft, unlike the original Blackbird. Which, admittedly, is a bit disturbing when you stop to think about it. But then you remember that A) this thing goes at Mach 6, twice the speed of the original Blackbird and B) realistically, it’s mostly to show off Lockheed Martin’s engineering skill.

And that engineering is impressive. Mach 6 is an incredibly hard speed to reach and has only been done a handful of times, partially because the stresses on the craft are extreme and dying is pretty easy to do at six times the speed of sound. That’s part of the reason the original SR-71 Blackbird is a world record holder for speed with an “air-breathing” jet engine, although obviously the SR-72 will be a bit differently designed, not least by leaving the pilot out of it.

So, while it will probably never happen in reality, there might be a job at some point that can be described as “hypersonic suborbital dogfighter.” You’ve got to love the future.

My favorite bit on the SR-71 from Skunk Works (great read if you’re into planes), was the Air Force wanting its emblem on the wings and tail of the plane to which the Lockheed guys were like “Why the fuck do you need emblems on a super-secret spy plane flying 85,000 ft at mach 3?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?” They actually had to invent paint that wouldn’t burn off to make it work.

If you think about it, owning an SR-71 retrofitted with VTOL technology means that Xavier has some pretty serious military contacts. Those may have come in handy when you had the giant robots on your lawn, Chuck.

You don’t need actual “contacts” when you can just roll into the Pentagon and be all: “You don’t need to see my ID. You’re going to requisition me a motherfucking Blackbird. I can go about my business. Move along.”

Because, seriously, there is no way Xavier is affording multiple replacement Blackbirds, not on a “family fortune”.

Granted our electronics and avionics are light years ahead of when the original SR-71 was originally designed but the weaponized platform was tested at that time through the use of the drone. It didn’t work out so well.

So… how much damage would a tungsten steel spike launched from “high altitude” at mach 6 do?

Because I’m no engineer, but I’m guessing that biulding a launchable missile that could survive those conditions would be, if anything, even harder than building the plane. But a good old-fashioned Rod from God would probably be more than enough.